I met Jim in October 1976, 28 years ago, a time of national amnesia after the divisive years of Vietnam and Watergate. In the midst of a general political malaise (we were facing a tepid presidential election that offered a choice between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter), I felt a deep yearning for a positive, progressive direction in American politics, but had no idea where to look for signs of it. The search led me to answer a help-wanted ad for a typesetter with a start-up socialist tabloid to be called In These Times. I got the job, and by the time we’d finished the prototype issue and were preparing the first edition, I knew I’d found something – and someone – with a mission and a vision I could believe in and wanted to be part of.
The value of In These Times and Jimmy in my life – as mentor, guide, historian, educator, great cook and storyteller, friend and boss – is inestimable. I’ll miss his humor, his charm and his wisdom, his friendship. I’ll always be grateful to have known him and to have been part of his ambitious undertaking, In These Times.
